Is this configuration of street names unique?

February 15, 2013 12:21 PM

This recent question on street names brought to mind something I have wondered about for years: in my old hometown, there are three consecutive parallel streets called Tuxedo, Huxley and Wexford. As a word-obsessed kid, I reflected on the relative rarity of the letter X in English and guessed there was likely no other place on the planet where three adjacent streets all had names with an X in them. Can anyone think of away to confirm or deny my childhood suspicion?
posted by ricochet biscuit to grab bag (20 answers total)

All I can think of is negative crowd-sourcing: Post on Facebook that it is an Actual Fact that Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, is the only English-speaking place in the world with three adjacent streets with an X in them. I bet you'd start getting "Nuh UH!" replies within a day.
posted by Etrigan at 12:29 PM on February 15 [10 favorites]

Yeah, mechanical Turk or nothing. There is no database of street names, of which I'm aware anyway, and certainly not across national jurisdictions. And I can't imagine there would be one that contains information about nearby streets. You'll just have to see if anyone can find a counter-example.
posted by valkyryn at 12:32 PM on February 15

Any city with streets in the sixties (sixty-first, sixty-second, sixty-third) will do. New York, for example.
posted by googly at 12:33 PM on February 15 [13 favorites]

There is no database of street names, of which I'm aware anyway, and certainly not across national jurisdictions. And I can't imagine there would be one that contains information about nearby streets.

Well, there are several, of course. Such databases are the foundation of every navigation service. Maybe some kindly MeFite who works at Google/Microsoft/Apple/Garmin/NAVTEQ/etc can run a custom query for you.
posted by jedicus at 12:41 PM on February 15 [1 favorite]

Any city with streets in the sixties (sixty-first, sixty-second, sixty-third) will do. New York, for example.

I thought about that, but as I am sure you know, New York has East (and West) 61st, 62nd, and 63rd. That seems a bit of a cop-out and not really in line with the aim of the question.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 12:48 PM on February 15

Hackensack, NJ has an Essex St, Sussex St and Lexington Ave parallel to each other and within 2 blocks of each other. You can see this on the map at 100 Essex St, Hackensack, NJ.
posted by ubiquity at 1:04 PM on February 15 [11 favorites]

The letter x is very common in Mayan. So in Chetumal in the Yucutan Peninsula you can find Yaxcopoil, with Yaxley and Xtacay off it. In Campeche you can find Yaxchilam, Xel-ha and Xcaret together. Xcupil comes off Xcaret.
posted by MuffinMan at 1:07 PM on February 15 [2 favorites]

I reflected on the relative rarity of the letter X in English and guessed there was likely no other place on the planet

As MuffinMan's Mayan example illustrates, you are making a big leap from 'english language' to 'the planet'. I was going to say that Chinese also features a lot of Xs, and I wouldn't be surprised to find this pattern there.
posted by jacalata at 1:09 PM on February 15

This previous question revealed that OpenStreetMap data contains street names. I'm sure if you familiarized yourself with their data you could write a spatial query to conclusively answer your question.
posted by ChrisHartley at 1:11 PM on February 15

I decided to play with Google maps a bit on the assumption that maybe an Essex Street would be near a Wessex and a Sussex. I didn't find those three (yet) but in about 90 seconds I found a Sussex Street in New South Wales right next to Dixon Street. That's 2/3 of the way there already off a seat-of-the-pants search.
posted by pointystick at 1:18 PM on February 15

Maltese also features a shockingly large number of "x"s. I would not be surprised if this condition was met in Malta as well.
posted by nolnacs at 1:31 PM on February 15

maybe an Essex Street would be near a Wessex and a Sussex

Maybe. But since Essex and Sussex are still current, and Wessex died out (except in literature) in 1066, that might not work out as well as you might think.
posted by ubiquity at 1:43 PM on February 15

Essex, Sussex, and Middlesex might also happen.
posted by madcaptenor at 1:59 PM on February 15

Fox Harbour N. Dr., Fox Harbour Ct., and Fox Harbour Den, Indianapolis. (There's several other Fox Harbour this-or-thats in that apartment complex, too, but those three actually run parallel.)
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 2:03 PM on February 15 [2 favorites]

There is no database of street names, of which I'm aware anyway, and certainly not across national jurisdictions.

The Census Bureau TIGER/Line files have nationwide coverage. One could theoretically flag all the streets with "X" in it and run some PostGIS queries to see if they are adjacent.
posted by Hollywood Upstairs Medical College at 2:57 PM on February 15

The letter x is very common in Mayan...

And in Náhuatl too. I found an example in seconds in Mexico City: Xochicalco, Ixcateopan and Uxmal (this last one is a Mayan name).
posted by clearlydemon at 3:31 PM on February 15 [2 favorites]

but as I am sure you know, New York has East (and West) 61st, 62nd, and 63rd

No, they are frequently written out. Especially on formal invitations, business cards, and the like.
posted by Sara C. at 4:19 PM on February 15

Thanks, all.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 6:03 PM on February 15

Xenon St, Xenon Ct, Xenophon St in Denver.
posted by stebulus at 6:06 PM on February 15

Five adjacent streets with X in Sarnia, Ontario: Oxford St meets Alexander St and Claxton Ave between Maxwell St and Exmouth St.
posted by stebulus at 6:27 PM on February 15 [8 favorites]